The Meaning of Moonlight
by Crazyeight
Summary: A miscommunication of words can have far reaching consequences. For Takato and Rika, their miscommunication will echo down the years, testing their friendship and, unknowingly, more.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

The Meaning of Moonlight

A Digimon Tamers story by: Crazyeight

Takato hummed quietly to himself as he helped clean up the table, the remains of a birthday cake consisting mostly of frosting that had somehow escaped detection by a party of guests now mostly long gone, and a small message sitting amidst it all identifying whose day it had been.

_Happy birthday Rika-chan._

Takato allowed a small smile to touch the corners of his lips at the small celebratory message – made by Jeri along with the cake – but did his best to keep it as non-obvious as possible. Rika, he knew, hadn't been too thrilled about the party to begin with, surprise or otherwise and had been less appreciative of his failed attempt at distracting her while the party was being prepped. Not that he could blame her. Rika didn't like deception, even when the intention behind it was good. And just as he predicted to Jeri and Rika's family when the plot had been revealed, the girl was not happy, and no amount of festivities could fix that.

_Not like the rest of the day had been a blast anyway,_ he thought, his smile slipping away and becoming more pensive. _I mean, there was that whole Parasimon and mind control thing. Kind of put a damper on everything._

Pausing at the entrance to the kitchen, he looked over his shoulder and in the direction of the vast expanse of yard that was the Nonaka residence, surrounded by a wall and a large, thick wooden gate, half expecting to find his friend there, but finding only the darkness of the descending night.

"A yen for your thoughts?"

Takato gave a startled jump and a yelp, whirling about to find a golden-furred, bipedal fox standing before him, blue, piercing eyes gazing at him curiously. Slapping on a cheesy, nervous grin in an obvious – and terrible – attempt to cover himself, he laughed.

"Sorry. Just got thinking about today."

"You're worried about Rika," the vulpine creature – a digital life form named Renamon – said, taking the plate with its cake remains from the boy. Takato felt himself go rigid at the kitsune's perception and looked about worriedly, half-expecting the girl in question to suddenly materialize from out of thin air, having caught wind of his concerns and was eager to share her displeasure over them. Renamon tilted her head at this.

"Is something the matter?" she asked. Takato looked up at her, his expression apologetic.

"Is it that obvious?" he asked, a sense of shame washing over him. He had been doing his best to help the party be, well, like a party should be and give Rika as little reason to be annoyed with him as possible. She was already mad enough at him about asking her out to watch the non-blooming Cherry blossoms as a distraction.

"For once, not so much," Renamon assured him, a small smile appearing on her face. "But you have always been easy to read."

Takato nodded, though this didn't help alleviate his concerns. "Rika's always saying that I wouldn't know subtlety if it bio-emerged, so I guess that's no surprise." He returned Renamon's smile as a thought occurred to her. "Um… I don't suppose you could give out any lessons…?"

"Rika prefers you as you are. If it's any consolation, she feels better knowing that you are what she gets." A pause before she gave a light laugh, remembering a time not that long ago in the flood tunnels where a mistake in reading him led to an unexpectedly honest compliment on the girl's shirt. "Although that doesn't stop you from getting into trouble anyway."

"Man, even when I'm doing nothing, I just end up causing trouble for her," Takato sighed despondently as he returned to the table and began to pick up the cups. Renamon frowned slightly at this, taken aback by how hard he was taking this. A moment's thought however had her change her assessment of the situation, and she glanced down in the direction of the kitchen where, within, their mutual friend, Jeri Katou was helping with the cleanup. Jeri, who just last year, had been in a similar situation as Rika and who still held a great deal back about the depths of how the experience affected her.

_Ah… Of course. I see now._

Turning back toward Renamon, he offered her another smile that looked obviously fake.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to come off sounding all weird and everything on Rika's birthday. I just… Is it really so bad to want to be worried about her?"

Renamon looked at the boy for one long moment before preparing to answer. Before she could do so however, she felt a familiar trickle in the back of her mind, and she lifted a claw to her lips, signaling for him to be quiet before fading from view with the sound of a flute. Blinking in bewilderment, he whirled about, looking for the fox digimon. As he did so, movement from out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and at once his vision zeroed in on the figure of Rika Nonaka down at the other side of the room, heading outdoors. Their eyes met briefly – or at least he thought they did – before she hopped down off the porch. His expression softened at her back, and he imagined that if she saw it, she would return nothing but annoyance. He tightened his grip around the glasses.

"There's got to be _something _I can do," he said quietly.

"Sometimes Takato," spoke up Renamon's voice as she appeared behind the boy, "helping when you don't know how is no different from not giving help at all. In some cases, it can be worse."

"Ah!" Takato spun about with a start. "Oh jeez… Renamon, do you just wait for me to…"  
"…not pay attention?" Renamon smiled, amusement dancing in her azure eyes. "No. That would be too easy with you."

"Gee, thanks," Takato deadpanned.

"You're welcome," Renamon said, her tail sweeping behind her with an air of playfulness before her eyes became stern. "I advise that you be careful, as I said, and to not be in such a rush to fix things. Some things take time, and sometimes all that's needed is just your support. Rika knows how you feel, and for her, that is help enough."

Taking the glasses from the boy, she stepped away. "At any rate, it's getting late now, Takato. Why don't you go home?"

"Oh, I…ah…" He glanced over his shoulder at the table where the earlier festivities had been held. "No, it's fine. My parents are expecting me late anyway, and I want to help out." His expression became a touch sober, thinking back over the day. "I…guess I want to make up for my part in all of this."

"Hmmm… I don't believe you have anything to make up for," Renamon said, turning about and making her way to the kitchen. "But if you insist on helping with something within your abilities…" Her eyes flickered over to the yard where Rika stepped out into before returning to the boy. "…I believe the moon is quite admirable tonight."

"Huh?"

But the vulpine digimon was already gone. Scratching the back of his head, Takato scrunched his face up, trying to decipher the kitsune's meaning.

_Is she suggesting that I watch the moon or something with Rika? _he wondered. Well, it was a step up from watching non-blooming cherry blossoms, he supposed, and Rika did have the tendency to watch the moon. Still, he wondered if that was what she meant. Unlike himself, Renamon stood as the undisputed master at subtlety.

Heading out toward the yard, he looked about, finding his own digimon partner, a large, muscular, red-scaled reptile named Guilmon, sniffing at the koi pond curiously, and a short way off, stood Rika, basking in the last vestiges of the setting sun, her already fiery hair blazing a brilliant copper.

_Pretty, _he couldn't help but think before catching himself. _Um… Better not say that out loud though. She might get mad._

**###**

The last rays of light were slipping away from the top of the gate surrounding Rika's home as the sun descended behind the horizon of the city; burning down to a dim, glowing ember that, eventually, would darken fully, bathing both sky and landscape with the cold, starry sky of night. A light shudder crept across her body, a puff of breath becoming visible as she made her way about the yard of her home, listening to the sounds of her home about her. Sounds of life. She turned back to the house, seeing the warmth of light that lay within, just a stone's throw away and easy shelter from the chill of outdoors.

She hated cold, but for the present, she didn't want to part ways with it, preferring to leave those inside alone; bereft of her presence as they cleaned up the remains of her surprise party. A _birthday _surprise that she didn't ask for or want, but had been organized anyway and, in the end, ruined by an invasion of artificial life forms from another plain of existence.

Just another day in the city of Shinjuku, really, though becoming mind-controlled and made to attack a friend of hers left a particular bad taste in her mouth about a day that was meant to be one of celebration.

_Not that there's much to celebrate,_ she thought dourly. _I'm here and I'm alive. Just another trip around the sun. Big deal._

Yet, everyone who cared about her – her family and friends – who were gathered here, thought it a big deal enough to celebrate her birthday with her; to organize a surprise party and keep her distracted while it was being set up.

"Takato?"

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy in question approaching Guilmon. He nodded to her, his expression betraying an obvious desire to come over to her but also a hesitation to do so, knowing how much she valued her privacy and that his approach in light of the day's events might not be altogether welcome, something Renamon understood perfectly well when she interrupted the boy the first time he tried to check in on her.

A part of her felt bad about that.

_He cares. They all care and I just push them away._

Well, that just happened to be how she was. What did it matter if they worried about her?

_It's not like I want anyone worrying about me anyway! _Her thoughts came out harshly, as though she were snapping at Takato already, and feeling guilty about it, she crossed her arms together. With an effort, she made herself return her attention to the remainder of the sunset, its last rays slipping behind the wall surrounding her house, leaving only a faint glow behind. In spite of herself, she thought of Takato. Takato and Guilmon in their merged form of Gallantmon, bathing in the radiant, red light of the form's 'Crimson Mode,' angelic wings fluttering behind their knightly, armored form.

_Pretty… _she thought, just as she had spoken aloud when she saw the form for the first time up close; the form that she only caught a glimpse of a year ago, fighting hard to rescue Jeri from her captor, the malevolent entity known as the D-Reaper. She scowled at herself, feeling a faint heat touching her cheeks at having used the word, and feeling annoyed at associating it with _Takato_ of all people.

"Did you come out to check up on me?" she suddenly found herself demanding heatedly, while behind her Takato's eyebrows rose up in surprise, his conversation with Guilmon finding itself unexpectedly getting cut off at the knees. She didn't turn around. She could easily imagine the look on his face. The confused look he often threw at her whenever she started coming down on him about something. Her hands tightened about her arms as she waited for his answer.

"Um… The thought did cross my mind," she heard him admit, and she glanced over her shoulder, finding the boy looking away while Guilmon watched with more than a little concern over how the conversation was starting to shape up. "But… you know. I was told that wasn't exactly a good idea."

Rika frowned at that. So far, he sounded truthful – not that she expected him to lie to her as he couldn't ever do so to save his life – but it wasn't the answer she anticipated either.

"You're supposed to say that you're worried," she grumbled under her breath, wondering where this change came from and guessing that Renamon had something to do with it.

"I'm supposed to say what?" Takato asked, somewhat bewildered.

"Nothing!" Rika shifted uneasily. "So, if you're not out here to check up on me, then what _are _you here for? Did you pick up birdwatching or something?"

She was being a bit nasty, and she knew it. Looking away, she bit her lower lip.

_He…doesn't deserve this. Why… Why am I being like this?_

"Um… Well, so far I'm Rika-watching." Takato barked a harsh, nervous laugh, all the while wishing that his mouth would just shut up long enough for his brain to catch up to it. Rika turned toward him, her violet-eyes dark and not amused.

"Sorry. Bad joke."

_"Very _bad," Rika agreed.

"What's wrong with watching you though?" Guilmon asked. "Renamon does it all the time, and friends are supposed to watch out for each other, right?"

"I'm not about to tell you the story of the birds and the bees," Rika _harrumphed, _making her way over to the duo while Takato rose to his feet, a sudden blush rising onto his face at the insinuation. Coming to a halt before them, their eyes met, something that felt as though it took considerable effort for the both of them, though Rika hid it far better than Takato, who looked as though he wanted to squirm and look away. Rika wished he would, if only so she could stop the squirming feeling growing inside her.

"Sorry," Takato said finally, and Rika raised an eyebrow.

"For what?"

Takato scratched the back of his head, _finally _looking away, but only for a moment.

"For trying to distract you. For suggesting we go watch the cherry blossoms. And for…" He coughed. _"…Rika-watching."_

Rika's hands again tightened around her arms and she broke her gaze away from his.

"You already apologized for the first two."

Guilmon looked back and forth between the two friends, sensing the thick tension growing on the air between them. He didn't understand why this was, or why it, at times, felt so different from tensions Rika shared with others, save for Henry who she tended to be fairly neutral toward even on her worst days. They were friends, but at the same time they held a strange feeling of being simultaneously enemies. Not the 'enemies' they were during their first, near disastrous encounters where Rika and Renamon genuinely saw Takato and Guilmon as adversaries to be defeated and crushed, but a sense of some kind of inevitable conflict lay between them all the same, like a bomb waiting for the slightest tap with which to explode.

Which made things all the more confusing with how they danced about the tension, trying desperately to avoid and defuse it while clinging tightly to their friendship in a way that they didn't with any of the others. It was, altogether, 'weird.'

"Rika!"

Both boy and girl jumped, startled as Jeri called out to them from the porch, the brunette waving and smiling cutely at them. Slipping on her shoes, she darted across the yard, beaming happily like a bright, shining sun. While Guilmon watched, Rika's face slipped on a mask, apparently grateful for the distraction from the tense air.

"I was wondering where you went off to,"" Jeri giggled, coming to a halt before them. "I'm getting ready to go and I wanted to say goodbye." She looked over at Takato questioningly. "Are you leaving too?"

"Ah… I guess so," the boy shrugged. "I mean, in…in a minute. We were just…uh…moon watching?"

"He'll be leaving soon," Rika cut in, annoyed over his stammering while giving the boy a sharp look. "He was just apologizing for his stupid, harebrained distraction."

"If it means anything, I was the one who suggested it," Jeri smiled apologetically with a shrug, folding her hands in front of her meekly.

"I kind of figured." Rika gave Takato another hard, critical look. "Though his timing was a bit off after all."

_Meaning the non-blooming cherry blossoms,_ Takato thought while Jeri lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh? What did he suggest you do together?"

"Just something stupid," Rika grumped, shifting her stance.

"Oh…" Jeri fidgeted, looking crestfallen at the rather short and blunt response.

"T-To be fair, that one was definitely me," Takato grinned awkwardly. "That one was all me. Jeri wanted me to distract you and I kind of…slipped."

"Typical," Rika _harrumphed._

"Well, lessons learned," Jeri smiled, trying to be upbeat. "Next time we'll do better."

"You did _fine," _Rika shifted again, her mask slipping and allowing a flicker of guilt to cross her features. "I just…hate surprises." She looked at Jeri, her eyes soft. "Sorry. I know you put a lot of work into it."

With a laugh, Jeri turned toward Takato and shrugged. "You did warn me."

"Yeah," Takato returned with an anxious chuckle.

"Ugh," Rika began. "Between the two of you…"

The fire-haired girl was abruptly cut off as Jeri suddenly threw herself at her, wrapping her up in her arms and squeezing her tight before releasing, leaving Rika with a bright, luminescent blush on her startled face.

"Calumon!" she called out. "It's time to go!"

On cue, a tiny, white-furred creature with wide ears and eyes fell out of the golden sky and flew over to them, giggling excitedly and landed atop Jeri's head. With another laugh and a wave, Jeri took off.

"Happy birthday Rika!" Calumon called, the pair disappearing around the gate, leaving the two teens and one dinosaur to listen to her vanishing footfalls before returning their attention to one another.

"So…uh…"

_"Moon _watching, Gogglehead?" Rika asked in a deadpan voice, reverting to her old nickname for him.

"Sorry. It was the first thing that came to mind."

"You have that problem quite a lot, don't you?" Rika huffed, once more folding her arms together. After a moment, her expression lost its edge and she looked away, as did Takato, the tension from earlier returning once again in full force.

"Thanks though," she said after one long moment. "For…earlier. For not letting go. Even if it was pretty stupid of you."

"Huh? Oh!" Takato blinked before remembering how, earlier that day, he had just barely caught her in her fall off the train digimon, Locomon. He frowned at her, also remembering how she demanded that he let her go to save himself.

"You're one of my best friends," he responded. "I don't think it was stupid at all. You'd do the same for me."

Rika tensed up at that, remembering how, under the mind control of Parasimon, she had tried to murder him with a giant-sized wrench.

_It kind of feels like I didn't do that,_ she thought, though she didn't say it out loud. A part of her wondered if that was the source of her irritation. That she wasn't as good a friend as Takato was toward her.

_Stupid… It's not a competition._

That wasn't it though. Of _course, _it wasn't a competition, yet she still felt that she lost all the same. That things she thought made her strong, like how she knew they made Takato strong when he and Guilmon were merged together, didn't work the way they should have for her.

_Why didn't I fight it off? _Her hands squeezed around her arms, images from earlier in the day…images of her father that the Parasimon's mind control taunted her with; tempting her. _I should have! I…_

She didn't want to think about it. But she couldn't help but wonder how much her friends meant to her. _Really _meant if she could be taken in so easily and be made to try and hurt someone she cared about.

_"I want to sing."_

"You really trust me a lot, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course, I do."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

Rika turned her head to face him more fully. "Why do you trust me?"

Takato rubbed the back of his head, confused about what she was trying to understand.

_Is this about what happened with Parasimon?_

Distantly, he realized that in spite of Rika's efforts to avoid having a talk about it, they were having it anyway.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I just do. I know that no matter what, you've got my back." He gave her a soft, comforting smile. "I mean, you kind of had it when you helped me rescue Guilmon, right? And that was before we were friends."

Rika opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted as Guilmon bumped up against her leg, causing her to rock on one foot before she righted herself.

"What are you doing, Dino boy?" she asked, frowning down at the reptilian digimon as he hugged up against her. His big, gold eyes looked at her uncertainly.

"Trying to help you feel better? You seem sad about something."

"I'm _not…" _She paused, sighed, and then patted the big dino's head. "You two. You're _both _Goggleheads! But…"

Takato took a step closer to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as she drifted off, seeming at a loss for words. He almost flinched away as her body tensed up at his touch, but at their eyes met, she relaxed. Her lips quirked slightly, a smile drawing a portrait on her face.

"You getting all mushy on me now, Takato?" she jested, and the boy blushed. For a moment, Takato was captivated by Rika's smile. It was so rare that he – or anyone – ever saw it, that he found himself in awe of the sight. It was just so…

"Pretty."

Rika cocked an eyebrow at that. "Huh?"

Suddenly realizing what he just said out loud, Takato's mind exploded in panic and he immediately began to backtrack.

"I-I mean the moon is really pretty, don't you think?" he stammered out, heat suddenly building up on his face at how lame the response sounded even to his ears. Rika blinked, a bit taken aback at this unexpected, baffling response. The moon _was _out, but with the sunset still casting a golden glow on the sky, it could hardly be called pretty. Nice, sure. But not pretty.

_Unless… That's not what he's…_

Deep, dark scarlet suddenly bloomed all across Rika's face, but before she could say or do anything else, the sound of her mother calling broke across the night air, causing both teens to whirl about in surprise, Takato's hand slipping away from the girl's shoulder as if it had been scorched.

"I'm out here, Mama!" Rika called back before returning her attention to her friend. Takato looked rather abashed, and from Rika's perspective, he had good reason to be.

_You don't tell someone that and not be!_

"I…guess I'd better get going, huh?" Takato said. Rika searched his eyes in the failing light, trying to work out the meaning of his words. Did he mean _that? _Or was it something else?

_"Rika!" _came the voice of her mother again._ "Where are you?"_

_ Guess she didn't hear me the first time…_

"Yeah," Rika nodded, deciding to table this conversation for another time. "I'll…uh…see you later."

"Right," Takato smiled, visibly relaxing, which only served to increase her confusion all the more. If he had just confessed to her, then why…?

"Happy birthday again, Rika," he said, waving a goodbye to her as he started toward the gate. "Come on, Guilmon. Bed time!"

"Yeah, okay," Guilmon said, giving Rika a curious look, as though she had suddenly alarmed him about something. Rika stood there for a moment, watching the pair go before she too waved a final goodbye and turned back toward the house, her blush still luminescent on her face.

_Great. Leave it to Gogglehead to give me something else to think about that's just going to drive me nuts._

**###**

A/N: The phrase _Tsuki ga kirei desune_ translates to 'The moon is beautiful' and was popularized by the Meiji era author, Natsume Sōseki, as an alternative to saying "I love you." Rika, being surrounded more by the more classical trappings of Japan courtesy of her grandmother, would probably be more aware of this than Takato, and given her own precociousness would probably inadvertently leap to conclusions far more quickly over simple things, like Takato blurting out whatever comes to mind when he realizes he's in the process of sticking his foot in his mouth over something. One of the things that I've always enjoyed about these characters (with or without the shipping element involved) is how they end up making mistakes about what the other person is thinking or doing versus what is actually happening; the most obvious example being the infamous shirt incident.

I have no idea if I'm going to continue this piece. I had the rough idea for some months now, but no inspiration to see it through to the end until yesterday morning. I'm leaving it marked 'unfinished' on the chance that I get further inspiration for it down the road.

Until next time.

-Crazyeight

8


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So…yeah. I thought I'd take another stab at this piece since the general consensus was that this story was fairly open ended. I haven't decided fully on what direction to go with here, but I figure a series of oneshots with some short arcs might be a good place to start, probably following the Tamers as they age and grow through puberty. We'll see how things turn out.

Also, **smartalec121, **I left a special shout out to you toward the end of the chapter for being such an awesome author. Here's to you. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

The Meaning of Moonlight

Chapter: 02/ Age Thirteen

Rika felt as though she should be different. Turning thirteen was something of a milestone after all. The beginning of puberty and the preparation for the journey to adulthood. Childhood would become a thing of the past, yet upon waking up, one day after her birthday, she could say that she didn't _feel _any different now than she had before. Of course, she knew that expecting something to happen in so short a time was simply unrealistic. Things simply didn't change that quickly.

_Scratch that,_ she thought, her gaze falling on a familiar photograph sitting on her dresser in the corner of her room, portraying her alongside Takato and their mutual friend Henry following their unexpected adventure on Okinawa. _Something _did _change._

Memory from last night coming to mind, Rika slipped out from her futon and made her way over to her dresser where she came to a halt, her violet eyes, narrowed and thoughtful, considered the photograph for a moment before beginning to rout through her belongings for her day clothes. Behind her, she felt a gentle breeze caress the back of her bare feet and ruffle her loose hair.

"Morning, Renamon," she greeted without bothering to look over her shoulder to see the golden-furred kitsune that was her partner and best friend.

"Good morning, Rika," the vulpine digimon bowed her head, a small smile touching her lips. "Sleep well?"

Rika's eyes flickered up to the photograph, frowning at it, before drawing out her lucky shirt. "About as well as anyone, I guess. Anything special planned for today?"

Renamon lifted a lofty eyebrow at the girl. "Only whatever you intend to do," she replied. "But if you are planning something where I cannot follow, I won't have any difficulty finding a way to…" She paused, testing the right word in her mind before continuing. "…amuse myself."

"You almost sound like Terriermon when you say it like that," Rika said, drawing out the remainder of her clothes. Once again, she considered the photograph, her frown deepening. Renamon looked on the girl with amusement.

"I don't plan to have _that _much fun," she replied. Rika shrugged, considering her style approach for a moment, for once wondering if it would be appropriate. As far as she was concerned, her usual getup was fine, and yet…

Again, her eyes flickered over to the photograph, and with it, another memory.

_"I-I mean the moon is really pretty, don't you think?"_

"Well, even if you did, I trust you to not cause any trouble."

Renamon tilted her head to one side, her humor suddenly vanishing, sensing something underneath her words. "Rika?"

Sensing that Renamon felt that something was amiss, Rika sighed.

"Sorry. I'm giving you the wrong impression, aren't I?"

"Do you need to be alone for something?" Renamon asked, approaching her. "If I didn't know any better, that's what it sounds like you're trying to tell me. Unless I am getting the wrong impression here." She paused, taking in the girl's dark frown as she evaded Renamon's eyes. "Rika, what's the matter?"

Rika turned away, feeling suddenly self-conscious between two sets of eyes on her, the digital and the set belonging to the photograph.

"I'm probably just overthinking it," she grumbled under her breath. Again, a head tilt from her fox-like partner before her azure gaze fell on the photograph.

"I see," she nodded. This earned her a sudden, sharp look from her partner.

"What do you mean, _'you see?'_ See what?"

"Perhaps nothing," Renamon shook her head, her expression thoughtful. "I think I can come up with something to distract myself with for a time. But I suppose that depends on whether it means something to you or not."

Rika scowled at her partner. "Sometimes it's really _annoying _how you sound like you think you know everything. Don't worry. I won't tell Dinoboy that you were wrong for once."

Once more, a raised eyebrow graced Renamon's features. "Do you intend to see Takato then?"

"I need to _change, _Renamon!" the girl blushed hotly, feeling as though she were being placed under a microscope and hating it. The feel of a light breeze touched her again, signaling the kitsune's withdrawal, leaving the fire-haired girl feeling guilty for having chased her away. She stood there for a moment; hands drawn into tight fists.

_Stupid…Takato,_ she thought irritably, glaring openly at the picture. _This is all your fault. You and your stupid mouth._

"This is stupid," she muttered, beginning to change. "He's a _Gogglehead. _I bet he didn't even know what he was saying. He probably said something _else_ that he knew I would get annoyed over and was trying to cover himself instead of admit to it and…"

She paused and looked at the picture once more, seeing her reflection, bare skin just barely visible in the light of the day seated atop the boy currently on her mind. Heat flushed its way across her body and half-hurrying, she took up the picture, glaring at it angrily.

"No peeking!" she scolded his image under her breath before turning it over, hiding herself from _his _warm, crimson eyes. Feeling at once better as well as foolish, she hastily finished changing in private.

"This is _so _stupid," she muttered again, tying her hair up. "Why am I letting that stupid little line of his get to me like this?"

Glaring at the still face down picture, she set it back up. A part of her wondered if it had anything to do with her still being unsettled by Parasimon's possession. This soon after its occurrence, she still felt rather raw about the whole thing, and she doubted she would ever fully get over it. Having memories of her father forced upon her and then being made to try and _kill _two of her closest friends would never sit well with her.

_Still… Being sensitive is supposed to be Takato's job,_ she thought, glaring at the boy's image and her own reflection in it, hovering over her own frozen moment in time next to his. She wanted to believe that Parasimon was the reason why she let his words, innocent as they most likely were, agitate her. Folding her arms together, she leaned back.

_I can just let this go. Let enough time pass, it'll end up being nothing. Right?_

Her fingers tightened around each other. That was just it though. _Were _they as innocent as she kept telling herself? Even though he had been drafted to distract her on her birthday to give time for her surprise party to be made ready, he had elected to 'ask her out,' so to speak. And when he caught her hand when she rolled off Locomon…

Takato had never told her to shut up before. From personal experience, she knew Takato rarely lost his cool like that no matter the pressure. He would fumble with his words, try to brush things off, avoid confrontation, blush or otherwise get frustrated, but explosive outbursts, especially toward her as she knew she tended to intimidate him with her own temper, were so rare that it was easy to forget he could ever get that way. Her telling him to just simply let her fall to her death just to save himself had _greatly _upset him.

The last time something even remotely similar like that happened had been when Beelzemon murdered Jeri's partner, Leomon. While what happened then had been far more 'explosive' – to put it mildly – Rika understood that Takato's emotions tended to burn a little brighter when it came to people he particularly cared about.

"I'm overthinking this," she said once more, yet she still couldn't quite let it go. Being asked out to watch Cherry Blossoms that weren't even in bloom yet had struck a chord with her, and the reference to moonlight only seemed to make it all the more concrete. And of course, there was the horribly awkward moment where her attempt at intimidating Takato backfired with him complimenting her shirt…

"I _wondered _once if you were really in love with me," she told his photo. "Back during the tournament… Before I even _met _you, I had boys confessing to me. Boys like you or like Ryo. And you show up practically on my doorstep, looking for me. Someone I thought was just another competitor in the card game instead of what digimon _actually _were. And since you didn't like to fight, I didn't think you were looking for a battle, so that left _very _few options because no one wanted to be my friend and I didn't care to make any. And I _certainly _didn't want to be with you no matter how _cute _you…"

She paused at that, scowled and blushed lightly before closing her eyes.

"I am talking to a picture of one of my best friends instead of going to talk to him," she said irritably to herself. "Why am _I _the one being the gogglehead for once?"

Of course, part of the problem, she knew, was that she didn't _want _to talk to him about what he said, preferring instead to just let the matter lie where it would, hopefully, disappear enough for her to be able to ignore it on a more permanent basis. Plus, there were benefits to being mad at a fake version of her friend as opposed to having it come out to the real thing where she would only get embarrassed or worse.

Still, deciding that going about her day was by far the better course of action instead of looking like a crazy person, Rika started to depart, only to pause a second later and look at her reflection once more thoughtfully. Lifting one hand, she brought her fingers to her bangs and parted them slightly, as she had once before when, wanting to make her mother happy before leaving for the digital world, she changed her appearance.

A crazy thought came to mind. Perhaps there was a way to test her concerns without needing to be direct. She almost rejected it out of hand, but after a moment's hesitation, she made her decision.

**###**

Renamon trailed after her partner, keeping a fair distance so that she had some measure of privacy, but not so far away that she was out of eyesight. She didn't intend to stay for very long, wanting to just see what she was up to before departing as 'requested.' While Rika hadn't said anything explicitly, the subtle suggestion that she wanted to see Takato and do so while alone had been quite plain to her, and with the unexpected change to her personal style, it left her wondering just how much of this was to be a friendly meeting and not something more. Rika wasn't one for dressing up or making herself look pretty after all, and while this particular change wasn't as dramatic a transformation as any her mother had made her do in the past, it remained difficult not to notice.

Given the swift pace that Rika set for herself, it seemed likely that she knew that and wanted to get things over with as soon as possible before anyone else saw her.

_Only one opinion matters to you? _she noted. _Interesting. _

She wondered if this suggested an attraction on Rika's part for Takato. She had teased him about it before, though at the time she had no reason to believe that Rika had at all been serious about it. With few exceptions, enemies rarely became bedfellows after all, and that had been the extent of their relationship when the joke had been made. Times change however, and Rika changed a great deal since those early days.

_Has she changed that much? _Renamon's tail swished through the air as she sat upon a branch, watching her partner make her way down the path of Shinjuku Park and feeling a touch of pride at seeing the normally aloof girl begin her first forays into her teenage years and all the changes that they were supposed to bring. She tried to envision what sort of person Rika would become in the years to come, remembering the stories that Rumiko and Seiko had told her about their experiences growing through this time of their lives and what she herself observed from older girls. She had no doubt that Rika would be unique and would change a great deal.

_Whatever she becomes and however she changes, _she thought, _I have no doubts that she will be what she promised to become: the best._

**###**

Takato hummed softly to himself as he finished placing the last of the bread dough into the oven. Wiping an arm over his brow he looked over at Guilmon, who was presently draping a cloth over some freshly made dough while it rose. The pair smiled at each other.

"All done, Takato! And I didn't make a mess!"

"Good work there, boy," Takato grinned, making his way over to his best friend and giving his head a friendly pat. In the time since Guilmon had returned from the digital world and become a more regular feature in the bakery, the crimson dinosaur had done his best to help out around the bakery, especially when it came to the production of Guilmon Bread. Baked goods having become his passion, it seemed like a natural choice. There was only one problem. His claws weren't made for the ease of handling products.

Guilmon sighed and looked at said appendages, flexing them. "I wish you could digi-modify me so I could have some hands. It's hard trying to be careful like you and your parents."

"Well, practice makes perfect," Takato smiled sympathetically, patting his partner on the head. "Believe me, it took a lot of practice even for _us _to get it right without making a mess. We'll figure out a way that works for you, don't worry."

Guilmon's ears perked up a little, but not by much. Takato could understand his frustration with wanting to be able to do something _now _rather than suffer through the learning process.

_At least he's a fast learner,_ he thought, adjusting the bandana on his head. _I mean, he learned how to read pretty quick. Pretty soon he'll an expert at bread baking. Maybe someday he'll be the one to inherit the bakery._

He smiled at that thought, envisioning his crimson partner managing the business. He wasn't sure how it would work legally, given that he was a digital dinosaur and not a human being, but baking _was _his primary passion after playing. His needs were fairly few and simple, and while Takato was fairly similar, he wasn't sure if inheriting the family business was something he really wanted.

_There's a whole, big world coming up, _he thought, making his way over to the tray of bread that had finally cooled off and hoisting them up. He felt a touch of anxiety at that. The future stood as one giant mystery and even now he still wasn't sure what he wanted to do besides being a Tamer and perhaps traveling the world someday, real or digital.

_Or both. _He exited the kitchen and into the bustle of business, taking the bread to where it would be set out for the shoppers. _But that would take a lot of money, and baking bread might not be enough to cover that. Man, no wonder why Rika's pushing herself so hard right now. Maybe I should follow her example and…_

The automatic door at the front dinged and Takato's eyes rose up to find a brown-haired girl wearing an olive-green dress entering. Her amber eyes swept around the bakery, and her bright smile landed on him almost immediately. Takato found a quirky smile freezing on his face while a sliver of heat rose in his cheeks.

"H-Hey Jeri," he croaked, and suddenly the heat in his face grew a touch hotter at how embarrassing he must have sounded. Fortunately, Jeri didn't seem to have noticed as she approached him, hands folded in front of her. Not that this did the pounding of his heart any better.

"Hi, Takato," she greeted warmly, and behind her, a tiny, creampuff digimon popped out onto her shoulder, ears rapidly expanding out from the sides of his head in excitement.

"Hiii!" Calumon exclaimed, flying on over. "Wow! That smells mighty yummy! Can I have some? Thank you!"

"Ah! Hey! Calumon!" Takato exclaimed, his momentary paralysis forgotten as his responsibilities quickly seized hold of him and he began to dart backward, trying to keep the food away from the ravenous creampuff digimon. Moving no less swiftly than he, Jeri snatched the little digimon away from Takato's dodging tray before he could snag a freshly baked loaf. From the cash register, Takato's mother looked up from her line of customers and towards her wayward son in alarm, preparing to intervene.

"Calumon!" Jeri scolded, pulling him close to her chest. "You can't just take what you want! We've talked about this!"

"Oops! Sorry, Jeri! I just saw food and then my belly got all rumbly!"

_Nothing more dangerous than a digimon and their stomach, _Takato chuckled mentally while breathing a sigh of relief that was also shared by his mother. "So…ah… What's up?" he asked her, once his hold on the bread tray – and Calumon – settled down. Jeri giggled, and at once Takato felt a nervous flutter of butterflies in his stomach that once again caused his face to grow warm.

"Oh, I just came down here to pick up some creampuffs for myself and Calumon. We're visiting my grandparents today, and it's going to be a bit of a long trip."

"Food won't distract him for very long, you know" Takato grinned, remembering his trip to Okinawa. Jeri giggled, likewise remembering Henry's horror stories from their class camping trip when the little digimon had invited himself.

"I know," she nodded. "But every little bit helps. Besides." Looking down at the diminutive digimon who presently was looking up at her with his big, green eyes, smiling widely. "He's been getting better at being patient, and he's been a big help with my little brother."

"That's…That's great," Takato stammered out. A pall of silence fell between them, and over at the register, Mie's eyes flickered over to them with a curious eye before returning to her duties.

"So…um…" Jeri began, picking up the threads of conversation again. "How have you been?"

Sensing that he needed to get back to work, if only to give himself something to distract himself with, Takato started back over toward the bread bin and began to pile the loafs in, setting them in a manner that would entice customers to pick one.

"Oh… You know. Keeping busy with the bread baking and homework. So not too different. Oh! Except Guilmon is doing a lot better at baking and not eating what he makes for the customers so that's a little…ah…" A ding sounded off to their side, indicating another arrival. He glanced up briefly and then blinked, returning his gaze back up to the newcomer, blinking again in surprise before trailing off. "…different."

Taking note of Takato's sudden change in demeanor, Jeri turned and her eyes went wide just as Calumon leapt out of her arms in excitement. There, standing in the entrance of the bakery as the doors slid shut behind her was Rika Nonaka, looking about her with a slight frown on her face. There was something different about her that took Jeri a second to pin down. She was dressed normally in her usual clothes – jeans and a t-shirt with a full heart emblazoned on her chest – and her hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail, but her bangs were different, being pulled to the side instead of merely being allowed to fall forward as per normal, showing off a touch of her forehead. It was…different, and being so completely out of the ordinary for the fire-haired girl that Jeri was left speechless.

As they stood there dumbfounded, Rika's eyes slid over to them and at once her face twisted in obvious discomfort, as though instantly regretting coming here. Before she could beat a hasty retreat however, Calumon swooped toward her, giggling excitedly.

_"Rika!"_ the tiny white digimon exploded, dropping down in front of her. Reflexively, Rika caught him with a gasp, and Calumon leaned forward, rubbing his nose against hers and causing a mad blush to erupt across her face.

"C-Calumon! What…?!"

"Eskimo kisses!"

"I _know _that! Oh, for goodness sake! Would you knock it off? I just…" Rika's face darkened still further as she pulled away, blowing at a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face, having come loose from Calumon's fooling around. Approaching her with a sympathetic smile, Jeri took hold of Calumon and drew him away from the blushing Rika, who immediately crossed her arms together, her expression fixed in a fearsome glare.

_At least that hasn't changed about her, _Jeri chuckled, already feeling that Takato's thoughts were swarming with thoughts that Rika had been mysteriously abducted and replaced by a digimon pretending to be her. _When she gets flustered like this, she falls back on trying to look scary._

An odd thing to do, Jeri noted, when her hairstyle looked more like an attempt to look pretty. But again, that was Rika.

"Come on, Calumon, let's not mess up Rika's new look," she said, to which Rika stiffened noticeably.

"Ohhh… Good idea!" Calumon bobbed his head up and down in sudden agreement. "She looks so much prettier with it for some reason, don't you think, Jeri? I mean she _always _looked pretty, but this…!"

"Would the two of you just _stop _it?" Rika muttered in embarrassment, doing her best not to meet either of their eyes. Unfortunately for her, this meant that her violet gaze fell upon Takato, who looked not only confused but also attempting to appear as though he _hadn't _noticed the change in her look. Rika's fingers tightened about her arms, swiftly regretting this harebrained idea of hers.

_Just…what was I thinking?_

"But why?" Calumon pressed. "It looks nice! Don't you think she looks nice, Takato?"

At that, Takato jumped, a blush erupting on his face now. Rika's eyes narrowed at him, causing Takato to fidget with the bread tray, his mouth short-circuiting rapidly at the pressure the girl's angry focus on him, _daring _him to say something that would set her off.

_Aw nuts… _Takato thought, his jaw becoming unhinged and falling into complete and utter chaos.

"I… Ah… I-Is… Well, I mean… C-Cool would probably be the better… I mean… I-I'm allowed?"

"Sounds like his brain has gone all funny," Calumon said with concern while Rika _harrumphed _and looked away, annoyed. Jeri giggled.

"Rika _does _have that effect on him, doesn't she?" she said, and at that, a thought occurred to her, causing her to tilt her head to one side at their redheaded friend. "Um…If you don't mind my asking, is something wrong with Takato saying you look nice?"

Rika shifted from one foot to the other while Takato hurriedly finished up his work.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" she asked irritably before plowing ahead, not even bothering to wait for an answer. "Look, can we just drop my hair as a topic of conversation? I didn't come here for stupid compliments!"

"What did you come here for, then?" Calumon asked before swiftly answering his own question with another one. "Did you come here to go with Takato to watch the Cherry Blossoms?"

There came a loud crash as Takato's tray slipped out of his fingers and struck the floor. Fortunately, no bread remained on it, but the sound had been signal enough to draw more eyes to the scene at the door. Rika just barely resisted the urge to walk out the door then and there, not liking all the attention they were receiving.

"Takato!" called out Mie from the register. "What's going on over there?"

"E-Everything's all right, Mom!" he called back, snatching the tray back up in his hands. "I…ah…got a little…um… It slipped, but everything's all right!"

"Well, don't go breaking anything, please." Mie looked at her flushed son in suspicion before looking over at the two girls standing before the door. Upon recognizing them, her expression softened, becoming more friendly. "Oh, hi, Jeri! Hello, Rika. My son's almost done with his shift, so he can join you as soon as he's done putting away the last of the bread…"

"I'm all done!" Takato croaked out, a little louder than he intended, looking over at Rika uncertainly, who currently was doing her best to ignore him. "Uh… Are we hanging out?"

Rika made an agitated moan, clenching her eyes shut. "I was _going _to ask if you wanted to, but _now _I'm starting to think that's a bad idea." Opening her eyes, her gaze quested over to Takato's, softening ever so slightly. "Unless you had _other _plans…"

"No! No plans! I just…" He looked over at Jeri, seeming to be utterly confused about what was going on before looking over at his mother, who eyed the whole scene with a mixture of amusement and a seeming confusion at how Takato could get flustered so easily.

Deciding that something needed to be done to push her son into action, planting her hands on her hips, Mie shook her head.

"Then what are you waiting for? Honestly, Takato. _Must _you keep those girls waiting? I thought we raised you to be better than that!"

A bright blush touched Jeri's face at that, and she looked at her two friends, seeing their faces positively _drowning _in red now. Hurriedly, Takato took off his apron and started toward the back, a worried expression on his face. Jeri watched him go, a bit flummoxed by the sudden, stormy atmosphere that had unexpectedly emerged in the little bakery, and all over one change in hairstyle!

In spite of herself, Jeri couldn't help but giggle a bit, earning her a sharp look from Rika.

"What's so funny?" the girl asked, a note of annoyance in her voice.

"Oh…nothing, really," Jeri smiled. "I was just thinking that all that's needed now was for Terriermon to pop in from out of nowhere."

Rika's eyes widened at the thought and the red flush that colored her skin drained rapidly in horror.

_Oh dear… _Jeri thought, suddenly becoming worried about her two friends and whatever adventure they were in for today.

8


End file.
